Radiation Treatment Can Help Type Of Blindness

Science & medicine - Notebook

December 20, 1998

A form of macular degeneration might be helped with a low-dose radiation treatment, says a University of New York professor of radiation oncology. Robert Sagerman said treatment involved exposing an area in the center of the retina to low-dose radiation treatments once a day for up to two weeks. He said his study found that of 146 people treated, vision improved in about 90 percent of them within six months. The treatment helped a ``wet'' form of the condition, which is caused when blood vessels break through a membrane behind the retina and leak blood and fluid.

RESEARCHERS IN ENGLAND DEVELOP A NASAL SPRAY TO PROTECT AGAINST PLAGUE

Nose drops can protect mice from bubonic plague, the disease that ravaged Europe in Middle Ages, and may also work in humans, a University of Birmingham (England) scientist says. The scientists developed the drops using proteins from the bacterium that causes the disease. The plague that wiped out a third of Europe's population in the 14th century was caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis, which is spread by fleas on rodents. Up to 2,000 cases of the disease are reported worldwide every year.

EXPERTS PREDICT THAT `GOOD BACTERIA' WILL BE ADDED TO FORMULA FOR INFANTS

Mention bacteria, and most parents think germs, infection and disease. But experts in pediatric nutrition say live bacteria may soon be added to infant formulas to help babies digest lactose, the sugar commonly found in milk, and to prevent and treat diarrhea, to improve carbohydrate digestion and to control intestinal infections. Probiotics, or ``good bacteria,'' have also exhibited anti-cancer, anti-allergy and cholesterol-lowering properties.